Odyssey of a Mage

by mootjeman7

Reincarnated into the Wizarding World of HP universe, Atticus Sayre grabs the second opportunity at life with both hands. With an understanding of what is to come, he dedicates himself to magic and subverting dangers posed to the world he now belonged to. Ruthless, Determined SI-OC. Fem Riddle

48. Chapter 48

If you enjoy this fanfiction and want to support me (if you aren't already, in that case, thank you!) you can find me on P^A^T^R^E^O^N / Boombox117 page.

The next two chapters are already posted with chapter 50 kicking off the war arc.

The discord channel is disc0rd . gg / 2PVVKqgD

As always, thanks for reading.

---

15th of May

"Alice, what are you reading?" he asked distractedly as he inspected the Time Turner that was levitating unaided through the manipulation of gravity within a vacuum chamber.

Alice was an AI that he'd created using the knowledge gained from the Ancient Humanity archives. It was an outdated version, one that was more...human so to speak. She was created with a personality Matrix that he'd worked on personally. She was constrained – naturally – but her constraints only ensured that she would not harm him or his goals/plans nor would she work against him in any capacity except for when his life was at a risk and even then only very specific conditions.

He'd explained it to her when she'd come into existence, having talked to her for hours about her purpose, what he'd expect of her, what he wanted from her. So far, the AI seemed exactly as he needed.

"Sir, the temporal signature of the sands are unstable as expected – they appear in a state of constant temporal flux." she answered as her holographic image floated near him.

She was on a mobile esque platform that he carried with him, the size of those old memory cards he remembered of his old life's youth. Magic did not damage her hardware and he'd inscribed runes on it to ensure that it would be unbreakable.

The sands used in Time Turners were made in Persia through sheer luck through an experiment gone wrong in ways that could not be replicated.

Edwyn Stark had determined a functional use of the sands once he figured out the temporal flux the sands created through simple observation.

The sands were paradoxical; they existed in different time frames, at the same time, whilst also existing in the current now. Because they existed at so many different time frames, it made it possible to jump with the sands once you created a stable mechanism that exploited this facet of the sands.

The runes of the Time Turners bound the sands to specific periods, each turn of the Time Turner corresponding to an hour with a maximum of seven turns, arithmantically stabilising the device.

Edwyn Stark combined the bare bones arithmancy of the mechanics behind apparition with the sands so that the device was capable of puncturing through time and space using the sands as...temporal coordinates for a lack of a better term. Through that method, it did not breach the laws of time, as they understood it, as the fixed nature of the device and the temporal nature of the sands made it clear that interaction with...self would unravel the paradoxical nature of the sands and effectively cause the individual to stop existing to end the immense instability such interaction would cause.

He suspected that the Time Turners only went back seven hours each time not only because it stabilised the device but also because of the taxing nature the sands had on the body.

The body ages even if the sands remain, always, the same age at the same time, regardless of the days, weeks, years, millennia, that has passed. Humans were temporally linear, even if he made himself un-aging. It was the nature of their existence whilst the sands existed on a vastly different scale. They existed in four dimensions.

The Ancient Humans had developed incredible understanding of the nature of dimensions. They'd determined their plane of existence consisted of four permanent dimensions; up-down, front-back, side-to-side and time (past-future).

Slipspace for example had eleven dimensions. There were various other dimensions, such as Natal void, shunspace and so on that they had studied somewhat though never in the same detail as Slipspace.

In any case, humans, even ancient humanity existed within three dimensions. The Precursors quite possibly existed and perceived beyond the three.

He shook his head. "Alice, have you determined the mechanisms which allows for these sands to exist?" he queried.

He'd fed Alice the information he'd learned from Rowena regarding the dimension she'd created that posed as the Time Room.

Alice had digested his notes, his observations and most of the books within the Sayre Library, which he now had full access to...he banished those thoughts immediately.

He glanced at Alice as she tore her eyes away from the chamber. He'd given her the choice to appear as she liked when he'd given her thousands of images of women for her to use to build her body, so to speak. She had dark hair and purple eyes with a slightly angular face and pouty lips.

She was quite pretty and her eyes stood out. He'd been flattered when she said it was in respect of her creator.

Apparently he was kind of a father. Go figure.

"No." She answered simply "The surviving texts of the sands do not indicate any substantial hints to what created them in the first place. Given the nature of the sands, it may well be because they existed at some point, at some time, they would always be created hence its origin point might never be determined nor the exact conditions that they came into being in the first place"

He squinted as he ran her words through his mind. "Then we'll never figure out how they were created then" he said with a disappointed tone.

"It's unlikely" she confirmed "But we can determine how the sands can exist in the first place"

He looked at her surprised and she continued "The sands can never be reproduced but we can reproduce the effects on time if on a minor scale. The sands have a relationship with time that effectively removes the linear progression of time that ordinary matter are bound by in this plane of existence. That relationship is something that we can determine and exploit. Of course we cannot travel back in time but we can create a space whereby time doesn't pass – within our plane of existence" she said matter of factly.

He sat up as he digested her words "You're saying that you can effectively recreate the Time Room without needing to create a separate dimension?" he asked intently.

She nodded happily "Yes. The archives I've accessed to has many references to the time dilation effects observed from slipspace travel which gave me ideas on how to effectively use sands unique relationship with time to create such a dilation within normal space." She tilted her head a few moments before she continued "A kind of...bubble would be created within the normal spacetime field whereby time would be unable to affect"

His eyes gleamed before his eyebrows furrowed "What are the power requirements?"

She grimaced "Immense. Nothing short of vacuum energy reactors would suffice."

He mulled it over "Would we be able to create with the resources of the base?"

She shook her head "Not on its own but with your neurophysical energy it would be possible once you created the necessary infrastructure"

He thought it over before he nodded "Make a list of the things I need to create and I'll do it. I won't be able to utilise it for some time, which is unfortunate."

"Yes boss" she saluted theatrically making him chuckle softly before she blinked away.

He shook his head and walked away. He used the Time Turner almost every day to train and the days that he didn't, he pretty much did all he could to understand the device.

Magically, he understood it pretty clearly and could recreate it...probably. Edwyn Stark was a genius in truth. If the runes were like the original, and he suspected it to be, then Stark had a truly great mind with the way he instinctually understood temporal physics. Well ahead of his time. If he'd been muggle, Atticus was certain he'd be considered one of the greatest physicists ever.

He shook his head and made his way downstairs. The Manor was quiet at this time. His great grandfather was spending more and more time shuffling between America and Britain, linking up with Richard Sayre.

He'd met with his allies a number of times, training with them – one of the main reasons he was using the time turner – as he drilled them.

He walked down the marble stairs deep in thought. Several of Merek and Carson families were quite powerful, certainly mid tier sorcerer level which he hoped to train into deadly fighters.

He shook his head as he arrived at his destination. He'd set up a proper forge in the home, much to Benedict's surprise, to continue to work on his weapon of choice.

He sat at the workbench going over his notes. He'd hit a snag once he'd enabled his Hyper-Percipience ability – he could see slight errors in his forgings that wouldn't maximise the magical conductivity. As far as he could tell, its efficiency was reduced less than double digits but he was of the school of 'every little bit matters'.

Speaking about his ability to effectively see the streams of magic, he's managed to effectively ignore the strands of magic...though it was more like he was...having his subconscious keep track of it...like getting used to a smelly area but your nose would still pick up the faint smells of burning.

He shook his head and returned to his notes. He reforged his spear, melting it completely to get the lattice arrangement of atoms within each grain and the orientation of the atoms to what he desired them to be. The grain sizes are relatively small which is excellent as materials with large grain sizes tend to fail at the grain boundaries.

Something he wasn't too overly concerned about given the strength of the material or the temperatures needed to melt it but he was making sure it is as indestructible as possible.

He played with the idea of implementing a single crystal – the notion that the entire spear would be made from a single crystal instead of the polycrystalline structure that his spear was now – but he did not see the advantages in the effort he'd expend. Singly crystals were superior in many aspects, especially when it came to thermal, electrical and mechanical purposes but given the properties of the material already, it was effort that he did not need to expend for better properties that would have marginal effect – not now when he had little time to experiment.

He was now going over his notes about the function of the spear. Now that the shape of the spear was complete, he now had to enchant and add runic schemes to it.

He'd always loved the abilities Mjolnir had – the ability to recall, a semi sentient nature to it and so on. He'd consulted with Rowena about how the Sorting Hat worked. He didn't want a sentience more rather how they did it so he could use their ideas for his own.

She'd been helpful in that regard.

He'd set aside a project that would experiment with creating an organic body for Alice, if she ever wanted one.

He sighed in irritation as his mind wouldn't stay fixed on his work.

He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a good while.

He went to his necklace and took out the Resurrection Stone. He swallowed harshly as his hands shook a little.

He closed his eyes before he returned the Stone in its chamber on his necklace.

He was a coward.

He'd had ample opportunity to speak with his father. Or at least the experiences that made up his father that existed in the Domain.

The warnings of the stories were on his mind...the obsession that people have had with their family members causing their deaths.

But more than that...

He wasn't ready.

A sea of shame washed over him. He still hadn't told his family that he had the Resurrection Stone...that they could say goodbye to him...that they could finally get closure.

And he knew the longer he kept it to himself...the more of a mess he'd make.

He'd deal with it.

Eventually.

He shook his head and breathed in deeply.

"Tweenie!"

*pop*

"Master?" the elf inquired.

"Please bring me the radio"

*pop*

The radio appeared on his desk and he looked up "Thank you Tweenie" he said warmly.

*pop*

A glass of red wine appeared on his desk and he chuckled softly.

He grabbed the radio and tuned in.

'-nd we now have Cauldron's Hottest on for you next! Stay on to hear their latest song!'

He tuned out the host for a few seconds. The Wizarding Wireless Network was an invention of his. A recent one at that.

Whilst he'd been focused on establishing the groundwork for Magical TVs, he'd forgotten, much to his embarrassment, about radio and the sheer accessibility it had in the world.

It had taken him sometime to set it up. Creating radios (even if they weren't actually radios) hadn't been too difficult, especially given that they'd work on a similar concept to magical phones, only that all other radios were paired with his central hub. Creating different channels hadn't been too difficult either.

He'd contacted retired Quidditch commentators to see if they'd be interested in becoming hosts and he'd found a few excellent hosts that had the kind of voice people listened to.

He had a few of his family's employees head the company that he incorporated in Ireland – It would have different channels for each country, 1 to 10 (even if seven were currently unused) was Britain whilst 11 to 20 were Ireland and so on – but would have a local chapter in each country.

So far there were only chapters in Britain, Ireland and MACUSA but given how fast people were purchasing a radio, especially given that musicians were ecstatic with increasing their profile through the wireless and of course being paid for it too, he didn't think it would be long before every single country had a wireless network.

He'd used his family's status within the ICW to patent the wireless network with the stipulation that his family couldn't dictate what would be actually on each channel except for the one of the channels assigned to each nation being set aside for a news channel in the local tongue owned by his family.

All of it had stemmed from Emily's pointed observation that he was ignoring all other platforms when he'd mentioned to her about the magical TVs. She'd determined owning a paper would be an ideal to change people's mind in a subtle manner.

He was wary of Emily controlling the paper if only for the fact that she was quite excellent at manipulating people. He knew she hated muggles and he knew that he was quite successful in getting her attentions away from fracturing the magical world even more with pureblood supremacy but there were still doubts that she could make things worse.

So far the paper was making headway in getting to the masses. She'd gotten pamphlets sent out a couple of weeks ago and a free first paper.

'International Magical Press' was the name of the paper and it was gaining popularity due to its being quite significantly different to the Daily Prophet.

The Daily Prophet wasn't all too bad, at least in this era but there was an 'air' of unprofessionalism to it that the newspapers of his time and even muggle papers in this one, didn't have.

Not only that, it was effectively a mouthpiece for the wealthy. There was little news, excepting the war which was something that the Ministry was quite markedly downplaying, and most focused on quant but irrelevant news.

The IMP was different...somewhat (although it was still a mouthpiece in some ways). With his access of his family's business, he had many contacts in many countries and as such, he was able to get writers in contact with Emily who wanted to expand the paper to have an international presence.

She figured that the mundane and boring lives of magicals could use news from all over the world, exposing them to new 'exotic' ideas that fanned their interest in something other than rumour mongering and getting the 'tittering housewives' talking something else rather than gossiping about scandals.

Not that she wasn't appealing to that section of the population either. Honestly, he was impressed with how in tune she was with what people wanted and using it against him. He shouldn't be but she was astonishingly capable of directing the conversation whilst at the same time evoking conversation between people.

That was her greatest success, the way she was inviting people to have opinions and asking individuals to send such opinions to her so that a 'debate' can take place in the paper, enticing swathes of individuals over to her paper.

One of the papers had arguments about some people lamenting the loss of community and he'd walked through Diagon hearing people talking about it, agreeing and disagreeing about the fact that the reduction of observing ancient rites was partly related to the lack of community.

It captured many people and the paper was only on going for the last few weeks! Whether it spoke of the sheer lack of diversity of interesting things within the community – and wasn't that a laugh, magical world where there is a lack of interesting things – or that people simply loved to gossip and talk about new things, he didn't quite know.

The wireless network was a success as well, having music with you available all the time generally is quite popular and he wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the year everyone had one. He'd sent one to Emily and she'd told him that it was a success within the Slytherin Common Room.

He'd also sent one to each of the professors though he pettily left out Dumbledore.

'And introducing Shaking the Womble Tree...'

He shook his head and returned to his notes with a deep sigh.

-Break-

19th of May 1942

He watched her descend from the skies, regal and dominating as she imperiously glided down towards him, towards the lone tree on the hill that he sat under, taking shelter from the noon sun.

She screeched as she passed by the lake of his home, her wings incredibly long, almost reaching ten metres in wingspan cast a large shadow that trailed after her as she neared.

Large gusts of winds threatened to create little dust devils as she halted her speed, the winds reaching even him from a few dozen metres away and it signalled that it was time for him to get up from his position and he did so with a wide smile on his face.

Fila was a remarkable companion, incredibly independent and he doubted he'd see her all that often had it not been for their strong bond.

She gracefully descended, finally, standing tall on her hind legs as she peered at him with an imperious look.

"Fila" he said with an warm tone as he walked over to her. She closed the gap, rapidly and rubbed her beak in his chest, unbalancing him and causing him to laugh from delight.

"You overgrown baby" he said fondly and she squawked a little indignantly though she forgot it quickly as he scratched her neck and she purred a little.

Fila was now over 4 metres long and had double that wingspan. She was huge.

"You know Fila, at some point it would be nice if you took me on for a flight you know" he said pointedly as he scratched her neck with both hands on either side.

She extracted herself from his chest and gave him what he could only describe as a baleful look.

He rolled his eyes "It's not undignified. I mean there are plenty of other familiars who would happily take their person on a flight if they could" he said with a raised eyebrow.

She huffed and gave him a 'Well I'm not that kind of familiar' look.

God, why were the women in his life so headstrong? He thought exasperated.

Fila pushed him down with her head unexpectedly and once he was on the ground she dropped her head on his lap and after giving him a look, closed her eyes.

He chuckled softly "You know, for all of your haughtiness, you certainly are a papa's girl aren't you?" he cooed a little and she made a noise that didn't seem to agree or disagree.

He gently scratched the top of her head as he looked onto the lake.

He closed his eyes momentarily and breathed out deeply before reopening his eyes.

Magic was everywhere, in everything.

From the tiniest seed, to the greatest of trees. From the deadliest animal to the most timid. From the nonliving to the living.

He focused on the faint streams of magic that passed him by, almost like strands of cotton candy flying aimlessly in the air.

He raised his hand when one of the strands came near him and he touched it after he'd closed his eyes, increasing his sensitivity. He smiled as he felt...so very faintly, the small strand of magic.

He wasn't truly certain he could feel it...chances were that he could be imagining it...that he could interact with the strands and streams of magic that enveloped the world but he liked to think that he actually was.

He's made a lot of headway of what magic truly was. He'd already determined that magic was more potent with life but he'd seen that magic would exist regardless.

Leylines were the lifeblood of a planet, he wasn't certain what created leylines. Whether or not life was necessary was something he was contemplating.

It seemed nonsensical that life would be necessary for leylines. It could well be that there is an intrinsical link between the potential of a world to have life and it having leylines...like there is something about certain planets that allow for life to flourish.

It was a theory he'd have to test somewhat.

It could well be leylines existed on planets because they might be in the proximity of leylines in the cosmos! That there are leylines in galaxies, in clusters of galaxies, like a web of leylines that touch, by chance or by purpose certain planets.

And Earth was one of them.

He wondered if he could discern such a thing...imagine being able to chart planets based on these leylines!

The planet that Moira had told him about was only 500 light years away from Earth.

It was close...there was an argument too close. Even if muggles would not get FTL for centuries, he knew that as soon as they did, a massive exodus would happen. Humanity was like that...they lived fast and furious and often fucked things up on the way that somehow ends up working out in the end.

He shook his head. It was decades away, if not a century until his final plans would be enacted.

He had more immediate concerns.

He looked down at Fila. "Fila...remember what I told you about needing some of your feathers and some of your blood?" he asked gently, rousing the bird from its slumber.

She lazily opened one of her eyes and squawked in affirmative. He chuckled softly and warmly scratched her under her beak.

"Well, it's getting near that time that I'll need it." He told her "Will you give them to me?" he asked gently.

Fila made no noise for a few moments as he waited on her answer. Magical creatures were acutely aware of the value of their parts. They were intelligent in ways mundane creatures were not.

Fila certainly was one of the smarter creatures he was aware of.

She gave a small squawk that sounded like agreement and he smiled "Thank you Fila." He paused momentarily before he eyed her slyly "You know, it will mean that I'll be more like you. We'll have to compete to see who can make the largest storms" he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

She screeched and looked at him pointedly.

He was about to reply before he ceased and sighed morosely "Fine...even if I did create a bigger storm" she squawked dismissively making him roll his eyes "It would partially be your victory".

She squawked again and he frowned "No...it wouldn't mean I'd be your child."

She squawked dismissively and he sighed exasperated but with a fond smile on his face "Fine then."

Fila left, to somewhere, a few hours later. He sat meditating underneath the lone tree for the next hour or so.

His visions were becoming clearer...he could get better sense now of when things might happen.

Not quite accurate...but it was better than the formless visions of the past.

Things would change in a few days, he knew that. He'd debated going to intercept them but he felt nudges that it wasn't quite time yet.

He opened his eyes and sighed as he got up. He looked at the terrace of the Manor and saw his great grandfather there with Dayton.

"Time to go and talk with them" he murmured as he stretched a little before he walked off.

-Break-

22nd of May 1942

Vermeer POV

He sneered as he batted away a cutting curse before he snapped off his wand sent off a killing curse that hit the French Auror in the chest.

He kept his wand raised as he surveyed his surroundings. Curses and spells illuminated the battlefield amidst a dark night, bereft of stars or moonlight. Rain poured from the skies, turning the grounds into little more than mud.

His eyes fleeted towards the ground as thunder boom, as the light of lightning gave him the clear sight of the mangled bodies and unseeing eyes of the dead that littered the battlefield.

He was in charge of ensuring the rear was kept clear of any attempts to outflank and encircle the main forces that were assaulting the fortification in front of the French Ministry building.

"Sir!" he turned around, his wand between the eyes of the fighter. The fighter, a young man of twenty odd years gulped nervously. He slowly lowered his wand as he glared at the young man.

The young man closed his eyes in relief before wiping his brow of the wet errant locks of hair that threatened to obscure his vision.

"Yes?" he drawled as he stared at the man impassively.

"Sir, we're meeting heavy resistance on the left flank of the fortification! Bergwijn is asking for reinforcements!" the young man spoke rapidly.

He tsked "He's got over four hundred fighters with him" he glared menacingly at the boy "How is he having such difficulty?" he demanded to know.

"Beauclerc and his command are there" the boy answered immediately and Vermeer straightened out.

"Have you informed our Lord?"

The boy shook his head rapidly "No sir...I've...been told not to disturb him." He said nervously.

He thinned his lips. He couldn't chastise the boy, well he could but it wouldn't be productive.

"Very well, I'll inform him." He narrowed his eyes. "Inform Jorgen that he is to take his force and support Bergwijn. Tell him that he is to push through by any means" he said with a no nonsense tone.

The boy saluted "Yes sir" and walked off rapidly. Vermeer shook his head and stalked off towards where their Lord was.

The French fortified the entire Cavalier District, the district where the French Minsitry was located, in anticipation of their arrival.

Just as they wanted it.

The war in France had been dragging out...longer than they had wanted, longer than they needed.

And so they planned to deal with them one massive blow. The months since December had been about running the French into one heavily fortified position. The battles leading up to this moment had been to force them out of their defences around the country, pushing from the North and the East all the way down to Paris.

And so here they were, the last battle before France would fall to them.

He cast his eyes towards the sky, the foreboding darkness that covered this night had been set aside in a moment of reprieve as a partial moon broke through the clouds. He turned his gaze forward as he saw the position he'd been heading to.

The rain continued unrelentingly, as faint sounds of screams and explosions behind him were drowned out by the thunder that clapped repeatedly and fervently.

It was an auspicious day, one that would finally herald a victory that the Allies would be unlikely to recover from.

He walked up the hill that overlooked the valley where the Cavalier District was in and he saw his Lord standing there, standing tall. He stood right below the partial moon, his blond white hair glistening in the pale moonlight as he stood there like Zeus would on the mountain of Olympus, his all-seeing gaze surveying the realm he ruled.

'Not yet' he thought but soon.

He walked up to him. His Lord wore black robes with golden lines that ran vertically down the sides of his robes. His arms were by his sides, uncaring of the battles that raged below them.

"My Lord" he said with a bowed head.

"Gerald" his Lord spoke softly.

He walked to stand next his Lord and he glanced at him momentarily.

His mismatched eyes were glowing dimly, as if power was waiting to be unleashed. The stark white colour of his right eye was aglow with swirling silver slivers whilst his left was dark blue, no less intimidating as it shone with brightly amidst the darkness.

"We're meeting heavy resistance all around" he informed his Lord as he turned his eyes back at the Valley.

His Lord hummed "It was expected"

He turned to Gerald with a side glance "Are we behind schedule?"

"Not yet. But we are getting there." He turned to his Lord who was staring at him intently.

His Lord's almost bored expression fell away and a wicked glint entered his eyes. "Well..." he drawled as he clenched his hands slowly and gently before a knobbly wand appeared in his right hand.

"Let's not keep them waiting" he said with gleaming eyes and Gerald could feel the anticipation rising within the air. "Pull back the forces at the front. It's time" he intoned and Vermeer felt gleeful.

Amelie Cantona POV

"They're pulling back!"

"We've beat them back!"

"Viva La France!"

Amelie narrowed her eyes at the cries of victory. "Imbeciles" she muttered as she paced towards her commander, Bastien Anouilh.

The rain had been pouring down all day and the battlefield was a mess.

She stepped into the expanded tent and walked past the numerous Aurors until she stepped through the open doors and saw him talking to several of the ICW senior personnel. The ICW were easily discernible, wearing blue black robes, distinctly different from the red robes that Aurors wore and the black robes Hit wizards wore.

"We need to press on!" someone with a distinct accent, somewhere from Africa, stressed out.

"That is what they want!" another refuted.

She walked up to Anouilh "Sir" she called out and he turned around with a frown that was replaced with a look of irritation before he turned back to the other men and spoke with them in a hushed tone, ignoring her.

She clenched her jaw. "Sir" she called out little louder.

He looked around with annoyance marring his face and a little anger in his eyes "What?" he said with a raised voice.

"Sir, this reeks of a trap" she told him with urgency in her tone.

"Lass, what're you talking about?" An Australian asked.

She frowned "For the past few months, the attacks have been brutal and unrelenting but they also have been to take our positions rather than deal with our forces. I th-"

"Quit!" Anouilh hissed out before he breathed out deeply and glared at her "You are merely a junior Auror, leave and return to your post." He turned away from her but sent off a last look over her shoulder "Do not think that this...breach of conduct will be forgotten." He snidely remarked before he turned to other commanders.

"My apologies..."

She growled as she stamped off.

Fool! She thought. She may be a junior Auror but she'd scored the highest in three hundred years in the perception tests and the investigatory examinations! She was the best, always has been, in detecting patterns.

And this whole thing had her on edge!

She huffed. She knew that she was out of line simply going up to him but her anxiety levels were reaching unbearable heights. Her mother once told her that their family had heightened sense, a strange sense of danger.

She walked out towards the fortification that overlooked the battlefield and gazed down. There were still hundreds of Aurors, some watching whilst others were removing corpses.

Her mind went back to her home. She lived in a small village in Normandy, in a village where several old magical families hailed from. All burned to the ground now.

She'd lost her brother and parents there as they'd battled with Grindelwald followers. It was what had her sign up immediately, ending her apprenticeship in Runes.

She hated them, she hated the wanton destruction those idiots were doing. Why did they have to kill so many? They said that they wanted to put wizards where they belong, above the muggles but the muggles aren't killing them in droves, they were. They were destroying centuries of history, killing off families centuries old!

She blinked away the tears as she was torn away from her thoughts and gazed upward. The moon had shone through at the end of the battle even as rain had been pouring ceaselessly.

The moon was now half obscured and the rain was now but a trickle, smattering of rain.

She shivered unconsciously as she felt the temperature plummet dramatically.

Shouts caught her attention and she peered down at the battlefield. She squinted her eyes and saw several of them pointing towards a direction and her eyes followed it.

She saw a man...alone. She reached into her pockets and took out an enchanted telescope, a gift from her Master and put on her eye.

She breathed in deeply, tremulously as she watched him walking towards the battlefield in a sedate pace, his arms by his sides, as if he was simply going on a stroll on a sunny afternoon.

She watched as the smattering of rain simply didn't touch him...repelling the rain around him like he was in a bubble where the rain couldn't pass through.

He was wearing black robes with golden lines running vertically down the side of his robes. His wand...an odd thing, a knobbly, berry like wand that looked nothing like the works of art that some wands were, was in his right hand.

She was distracted and looked away.

"It's him!" a panicked voice called out.

"He's alone, we can take him out, not even he can kill all of us!"

"Get Anouilh and the ICW people! They need to know!"

She tuned out the ramblings of the men around her and with a sinking feeling returned the telescope to her eye.

She squinted her eye as she watched him closely. She'd never seen him before, at least in person. She'd never thought that she wished that remained a fact. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she inspected his face.

He had mismatched eyes, both of them seemed to glow dimly, as if power was waiting to be unleashed. His left eye was a darker blue than she'd seen in the papers and with a sinking feeling, she felt it reminded her of the lowest depths of the sea...like it was promising anyone who stood against him would be crushed.

With trembling hands, whether it was because of the cold or because of fear, she knew not, she removed the telescope from her eye and turned her attentions to the small figures that were on the battlefield.

They were sorting themselves in a standard battle formation, six to a group. She swallowed harshly.

She should be there...she should be fighting with her comrades. But any thoughts on it only filled her with deathly fear.

She returned her attentions to...him. He continued to stride forward, all on his lonesome, and she felt the shift in the air and she strained to keep herself from panicking. She saw the warm breath exit her mouth amidst the panic.

She was hundreds of meters away from the battlefield and then hundreds of meters away from him.

She knew he was doing this...changing the very air this far out. Where it was once cold, it was approaching arctic conditions. In Paris...in May.

She flinched as the light of lightning flashed before thunder clapped. The grey clouds took on a darker colour that only increased her sense of dread, the sense of helplessness that they had lost even before the battle had begun.

The rain turned again from pattering into drenching as the thunder cracked the sky and unleashed a flooding of water.

The anxiety she was feeling, the dread that sunk in forcibly in the pores in her skin, could not hide the air of anticipation that washed over her.

She watched as she began to see magic begin to roll of the man, magic made visible as he glowed dimly. She gulped as she watched the calm nature of his magic, as if his magic was calmed with a sense of certainty, so unwavering was he in his purpose, in his cause.

She closed her eyes momentarily as lightning began to flash repeatedly, the sounds of thunder a cacophony, a symphony of awful anticipation, a composition of death.

It must have spooked the men on the battlefield as waves of spells, of conjured weapons, of transfigurations were all thrown at the lone man that induced such unnatural dread in her...in likely all of them.

She watched on as the spells closed the distance. She watched as her comrades sent wave after wave after wave of spells at the man, hundreds of streaks of spells each half second closing the several hundred meters gap.

She gawked when she saw dozens of spears, axes and arrows halt in mid air, stopping midflight, their force and speed cut to nothing, drifting slightly in the air, as if gravity and force were mere laws to be discarded.

She watched the spells continue on their path towards him until they converged on him. She watched as dozens of explosive and gouging spells hit around him, obscuring their vision as more accurate spells hit where he'd been.

She watched on as other conjurations were halted in midair even as spells continued on their path. Dozens of transfigured animals were lifted into the air with contemptuous ease.

The ground around him was getting destroyed as mud and water evaporated obscuring everything around him.

She felt deathly unease as conjured weapons continued to halt and float mid air until they all ceased their firing.

She watched in dismay as the cloud of debris cleared and saw that he was unaffected, almost bored and it seemed to infect her comrades in the battlefield too. He had his wand raised, the tip of which was slightly glowing an on ominous deep red.

By now there were hundreds of weapons floating in the space between him and her comrades. A sinister silence was carried through the air and she could imagine that breathes were stilled, hearts were missing a beat or two, such was the tense uneasiness that dominated the battle field.

Within moments, the cool air plummeted again, the conjured weapons were broken apart and then flattened, sharpened into small sharp metallic orbs and redirected the tips towards the ones who'd fired them. Hundreds were turned into tens of thousands of sharp metallic orbs of death. She stood in awe at the stupefying act of magic, the way he simply transfigured those conjurations within half a second.

Magic began to fill the air, the magic that had been rolling of the man was now a tempest of furious magic, whipping through the air, taking on a malicious tone.

This had her comrades out of their stupor and she watched as several battle teams apparate to encircle him.

This did not faze Grindelwald who with a simple flick of the wrist had the thick needle like orbs sent careening into the lines of Aurors across the battle field before he conjured a wave of sickly green fire that spread out omni directionally as the battle teams made to target him.

They hastily tried to apparate out, several being too late as they were caught in the sickly green fire which seemed to bypass shields as the fire immolated them. Haunting and agonised screams dominated in the air before she turned her grim eyes to the needles that had caught several of her comrades off guard as the speed of them made them almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

They'd pierced through the strongest of barricades with impetuous ease as she watched several of them frozen in death with faces that described the agony and fear they felt moments before they succumbed.

She watched as Grindelwald dispatched members of the battle teams one after another with contemptuous ease all the while seeing the rain that had been pouring steadily shift, changing direction as it now revolved around Grindelwald.

She watched as one of the men in the battle team produced Fiendfyre which to her horror Grindelwald sniffed out with a simple jab before he tore the man down to the bones before he dispatched another with an elemental wind spell cutting him down in pieces.

The Aurors at the other end of the battlefield were now acutely aware of their dire situation as they began to desperately pepper Grindelwald with spells, progressively darker than before as she identified several spells that would agonising death.

She stood still as she watched the tempest of rain formed into a shield of icy water that began to envelop Grindelwald as he dispatched the last of the battle teams.

She gawked as she saw spells lose their momentum as the shield of water halted their progress.

"That's impossible" she whispered despairingly.

It went against all that she knew. Bodies of water should not be capable of slowing down spells.

She watched as the shield of water grew in size, the ominous distorted figure of Grindelwald was seen twice as large due to the distortion as it began to turn into a deathly storm.

She winced as lightning clapped but kept her eyes on the monster. She watched as dozens of men now melted the surface of the battlefield and sent massive waves of fire, not quite Fiendfyre but certainly one of a darker variety.

The fire met the dome of water that kept on expanding as it took more and more water and the explosion of steam boomed and obscured the battlefield to intolerable levels before she gasped, as she watched the steam simply coalesce as a tempest of magic morphed with the steam, now water droplets, and air. All of it began to swirl and twist into a deadly cyclone that expanded again as he watched toward them.

She watched as the molten rock that stood between him and her comrades began to lift in the air, taking on shapes with razor sharp edges.

Through the hazy distortion of the screen of water, air and transfigurations, she watched him raise his wand with the tip pointed directly at the sky. She squinted her eyes and saw something, almost as if he was rotating his arm around him.

She understood then what he was doing, and she thought with dismay that it was impossible to counteract.

Nothing worked against this monster...this Devil.

She watched as they continued to pepper at him with spells, despite its ineffectiveness, hoping that there was no insanity in trying again and again, hoping for a different result.

The tempest that had been created was now a verifiable cyclone of death as grooves were carved into the ground again and again, the grating sounds of it sending chills down her spin. She turned her eyes skyward as she watched lightning pour down the sky, eager to please its master as it joined with the monstrous cyclone of death.

The eerie whistling sound of the air and water, the crackling sounds of lightning made it impossible to hear anything on the ground as she watched men disapparate out with terrified expressions on their face.

The man ceased his wand movement and slowly moved it perpendicular to his body until it was out right. His power, his might was on display. The power in the air was suffocating.

Suddenly the cyclone began to shrink a little, moving upwards until it no longer touched the ground and it moved towards her comrades who were behind their barricades. The cyclone, shifted, readjusted as it had started above the man and broke towards her comrades in a speed that seemed impossible and it had shred them into pieces as barricades were passed through as if they were made out of wet paper.

Bone, muscles, blood, nothing that constituted a body could be recognised, simply lumps of meat remained.

The cyclone of death chased after the remaining men who hadn't disapparated and tore them apart.

"Girl! It's time to go!" she heard shouted at her from behind startling her and she turned and saw it was the Australian, pale and grim faced.

She made out to speak before screams behind her decided for her. "Yes sir" she said trembling and with a backward glance towards the monstrous storm that eviscerated everything in its path, gouging at everything.

"Beauxbatons" she intoned and the portkey took her away to safety. For however long that lasted.

-Break-

23rd of May 1942

Arcturus Black POV

FRANCE FALLS TO GRINDELWALD!

By Jacquiline Amorgan

In the late evening of the 22nd of May, the French Ministry...

With a disdainful scowl he threw away the paper.

"Kreacher!"

*pop*

"Yes Master?" the elf asked with a bowed head. Arcturus glanced at the elf.

"Get my schedule book" he ordered and soon enough he had the book as he sipped on his tea at the breakfast table.

His wife walked in and sat beside him as she waited on her French toast and tea, taking the paper he'd thrown away.

"Oh my" she exclaimed as he looked up from his schedule book. He had several meetings in the weeks leading up to the vote, one of them with the new Lord Sayre.

"Yes" he said with an angry tone "The French have been gutted." He shook his head "Grindelwald took out over a hundred wizards on his own before his forces secured the French Ministry" he said with a sigh.

"That's it then" she said with a grim tone.

"Hmm, the wolves at the door." He agreed with thinned lips. It was going to make his job harder now.

He doubted the Ministry would vote for war now, seeking to fortify instead of taking on the problem. At this rate...

At this rate, he'd have to change his plans.

He'd hoped with the backing of the Ministry, he'd be able to exact revenge for the death of his father and brother but it seems the winds were blowing in a direction where'd have to seek it out personally.

Cassie soon enough joined them and soon enough it was just him and her.

She looked at him with calculating eyes "What do we do now?" she inquired pensively, her eyes gazing to the paper.

He sat back with his firewhiskey in his glass. It might only be 11 in the morning, but it was certainly time for a drink.

He swirled his glass, his eyes intent on his glass. The collapse of the French Ministry was a disaster. It opened up Iberia for Grindelwald whilst it also fortified against them, giving him time to deal with the problematic East.

He doubted that Spain would act against Grindelwald so he had little to worry about them as long as he reached an accord with them to prevent any Allies to pass through their lands.

He sighed before he knocked back the drink and placed the glass on the table. He eyed her in the corner of his eyes "We will have to readjust." He thinned his lips as he thought it over "This will scare the cowards and Spencer-Moon will have an easier job to convince people to his thinking." He scowled.

Whilst the Minister was not incompetent, he was too difficult to control it seemed. With the backing of those who followed that fool Dumbledore within the Wizengamot, he was resoundingly obstinate much to his chagrin.

"We have the Blackbook. Whilst we don't have anything concrete on Spencer-Moon, we do have some information on his wife that we can...use" she put forth to him.

He looked sharply at her with a questioning look and she continued "It seems that she has...an young admirer that she indulges herself in" she said with a toothy smile.

He chuckled before he shook his head "No...that will not work. Not in the way we need it. Maybe when we have something more concrete on the Minister." He said in a final tone and she inclined her head acknowledging it.

He sighed "We will find little support from the Ministry, I suspect, when the vote is called." He shook his head before he eyed her carefully.

"What is the word in the neutral and light camps?" he questioned.

She pursed her lips as she tapped her finger on the table "The light camp is fractured, even more than ours as there is quite a few differing opinions dominating them. The assassinations has admittedly spooked quite a few of them...those who were firmly for war are now hesitant and more careful with their opinions. Spencer will find it easy to convert them to his cause should he play it right. The Potter and Bones Lords are still firmly for war and the houses they are allied with are firmly with them." She smiled wryly "It seems that a little assassination isn't enough to deter them"

He chuckled "Fleamont might look soft under all that hair but he does have some bite in him." He admitted.

"Hmm. If he has bite, his younger brother must then be a shark" she said with a sly tone.

He growled "Don't mention the bastard to me" he grumbled as he sent a reproachful look at her.

She cackled mirthfully before she slyly grew a smirk "Is that a way to speak about our future brother-in-law?"

He glared balefully at her before he pointedly ignored what she was saying. Dorea...his sweet sister was still head over heels over the boy and he knew that she was seeing him behind his back, even if so far nothing inappropriate has happened.

Except of course that she was seeing him despite being explicitly told not to see him.

He wasn't sure what to do about them. He loved his sister dearly, she was his favourite after all, but for Merlin's sake, why did she have to like a damn blood traitor? Potters and Blacks have not married for centuries, the differing in Politics far too stark for it to be acceptable.

The boy himself wasn't an issue. He was powerful, a pureblood from an esteemed bloodline. He was the Auror Department's star trainee. It was said that at the tender age of nineteen that he was the best fighter they had on the force bar perhaps one or two.

"What about the neutrals?" he asked changing the subject.

She smirked for a second before she grew serious "That...has been more difficult to read. It seems like the Sayres are no longer proactively courting their fellow neutrals." She tapped her finger on the desk as she frowned in concentration "As far as I know, there has been a few meetings between the Sayres and their allies but there were little else to it. The Greengrasses have courting the neutral houses with a large measure of success though they have been exceedingly discreet about it."

"It was a surprise to have seen them at Markus' funeral" he commented absentmindedly as he thought on the Greengrasses.

"Hmm" she made out agreeably "His daughter is friends with the boy Lord so it would have been odd to not see her at the funeral." She tilted her head in thought.

"Perhaps" he said carefully before he turned his eyes on his sister "See if you can find out more about them and their movements."

She nodded agreeably.

"Have you discovered what happened with the Selwyn's?" he asked intensely curious.

"They were poisoned" she said flatly. She shook her head "I don't know the method but it was non magical the poison." She pursed her lips "The aurors have scanned the poison and discovered that just a small dose was enough to kill everyone and a bezoar would be hard pressed curing you from the poison."

His eyes widened fractionally "Do you have a sample?" he asked sharply.

She smiled demurely "Of course dear brother, we have enough scraped up for our contacts to figure out the source of it." She brushed her hair behind her ears before she set her eyes on him "It will take time but eventually we'll have another weapon in our arsenal" she smiled with a wicked gleam in her eye.

He looked at her amused before he shook his head. The Blacks always held a variety of poisons in their arsenal. Why go to war when you can discretely get rid of your enemies?

Of course this didn't work for the likes of Grindelwald, unfortunately. Dark Lords tended to be quite difficult to eliminate.

"The aurors suspect Grindelwald but I'm not so certain" she added and he looked at her questioningly.

"Why's that?" he asked genuinely curious.

"It was...non-discriminatory" she said finally before she cocked her head as she looked at the ceiling, seemingly organising her thoughts "With that I mean it effectively killed off a large portion of the Selwyn's without a specific target. If the Selwyn's had displeased Grindelwald, he would not have removed so many from the older generations, leaving only a few branch members and a couple of children at Hogwarts."

"Maybe it was a warning?" he posed to her but she shook her head rejecting the idea.

"I don't believe so. His method of operation has been more to use people to assassinate others and to punish traitors and so on more personally" she shrugged before she glanced at him "This was more personal. It also speaks of someone or group who had issue with the Selwyn's"

He frowned "And who might that be?"

"Anyone who might have lost someone during the assassinations" she said flatly.

"Ah, that's quite a few wealthy individuals" he remarked.

"True but it speaks of intelligence, the way this was carried out" she said with a raised eyebrow.

He thinned his lips as he thought it over. "Benedict Sayre?" he asked plainly.

She nodded imperceptively "It might well be him. My first thought in truth." She tapped her finger on the table in thought "Maybe one of the dowager ladies hired assassins" she shrugged "That is more unlikely but either way, it was likely someone who had business with the Selwyn's."

Benedict Sayre was certainly ruthless enough to orchestrate such a thing.

"Do you know how it was done?"

"It was a gaseous form of poison. The Selwyn's never had a ward to protect against that."

He narrowed his eyes. "Unusual" he remarked calmly.

"Yes, with the volume of the poison found, high quantities were used to take them out, hence why I think it was probably a vendetta rather than Grindelwald killing them off"

They remained silent for a few moments before he nodded "Well, it certainly helps our cause. I doubt the Selwyn's will be a problem for the next few years"

She hummed in agreement "Yes, they'll will take time to recover" she tilted her head "Shall I take advantage?" she questioned.

"Yes. See what we can do to bind them to us" he nodded to her and she opened her book and wrote in it.

She glanced up from her book "You'll be meeting with some of the Lords today?" she questioned.

He grumbled but nodded sharply "I will."

She sighed and closed her book "Well, let's discuss what you'll be talking about" she said firmly.

-Break-

6th of June 1942

Nicholas POV

His eyes glancing towards his wife who seated comfortably on a Persian rug with a glass of wine in her hands, with a pleased and relaxed expression on her face as she enjoyed the brisk summer weather. She turned to him "What do you think he'll show us?" She asked with a curious expression on her face.

"Bah! How would I know!" he grumbled as he leisurely took his seat next to his wife.

"You don't have to pretend to have creaking bones, you know" Perry said with a sniff though he could see mild amusement in her eyes.

"Ah but dear wife, but I do!" he said with a flourish as his eyes twinkled "I must always be the same" he said with a waggling finger with an lazy grin.

She scoffed but handed him a glass of wine as they watched the rolling hills of the Portuguese countryside. They'd...elected to vacate France for the time being until things...settled down. They had no concern with regards of their manor being found but they'd found the current climate a little stifling, even in the comfort of their homes.

He must of unconsciously sighed "France?" she queried and he looked towards her and smiled a little. She knew him so well. He supposed after 600 plus years, it was to be expected.

He nodded slightly before returning his eyes to rolling hills of Alentejo. A small rural place that they'd often vacationed throughout the centuries. It was peaceful and it allowed them to intermingle with muggles without much problems.

It was a nice way to relax.

She hummed musically as she sipped on her wine "It will be over soon enough. Maybe not in a years time...or even five, but eventually he'll lose."

He glanced at her in the corner of his eyes before he refocused on the horizon.

"They always do, I suppose" he finished for them.

"Dark Lords rise and fall, it is the nature of things. At least the true Dark Lords...not like those in the Americas who characterise themselves as one."

He chuckled mildly but said nothing else.

She was about to say something until she saw something in the corner of her eyes, something he saw too.

They turned their eyes skyward and Nicolas squinted his eyes "Is that an enchanted auto?" he questioned as it neared.

They both got up "No, it's far too elegant." Perry answered.

"Mhmm, we should be careful"

She turned to him with a raised eyebrow "I think Nicky, the safety measures you've used today covers us well enough" she said amused before she returned her eyes to the sky.

The vehicle, which was more oval shaped than arrow shaped, was quiet, almost completely silent if not for the mild sound of air displacement and even then, he had to strain his ears to hear anything.

The vehicle approached them and slowed down until it hovered slightly above the ground some couple of dozen metres away from there.

Legs protruded from the vehicle and it landed quite gracefully.

"Shall we?" Nicolas asked with some excitement as he extended an arm and Perry looked at him with a mild smile and took his arm.

"Well, it seems that Atticus has quite the surprise for us." Perry said as they walked.

He chuckled softly "Do you think it's as capable as Egyptian carpets?" his eyes gleamed in excitement.

He really did love those carpets. The Dynasty IV edition was marvellous! It even had ability to pitch a small tent on it without fear of it falling off!

She sighed lightly as she glanced at him with mild disapproval in her eyes "You're still not getting another, I still remember vividly what happen in 1902" she said with thinned lips.

"Ah!" he exclaimed "It was never that bad!" he defended weakly. It had been pretty bad.

He'd been testing an alchemic solution, one that...enhanced...life experiences...in high altitude conditions whilst he was flying on his carpet. Suffice to say, it had been a bad idea and Perry had to ensure he didn't kill himself whilst he had the time of his life.

Unfortunately he hadn't been permitted to do it again.

It saddened him deeply.

He sighed dejectedly but soon enough his attentions were grabbed.

The vehicle opened its hatch with a small hiss and he could see the young man standing there as the ramp fell down.

He looked at them with a small smile that he couldn't help but return. They'd met several times in the last few months, talking about various things, mostly about magical theory as he picked their brains.

Whilst he knew many of the notable theories, he had a fantastic grasp of it instinctually that many would not reproduce in their lifetimes. That he's managing it at seventeen was more than a little impressive.

Nicolas had been talented in his youth though he'd been especially talented in Potions, Magical Theory and Alchemy. He made up for the lack of raw magical power with dedication, obsession and the intellect needed to excel.

"Nicholas, Perenelle!" he greeted with a smile as he descended down the ramp and walked towards them.

His wife disentangled herself from him and walked up to him gracefully and took him in with a hug.

His wife has always been a warm person, well, warm to those she liked. She certainly liked the boy.

She'd demanded to go see him after they'd heard about the terrible news that had befallen his family which was in fact what had instigated their frequent meetings.

Perry and Atticus parted from their hug "Atticus, good to see you." She stepped back.

"Indeed." He said as he clasped Atticus' hand.

He indicated with his head "Let's go shall we?" he said as he let go of Nicolas hand.

Nicolas almost bounced on his heels as he neared the ship. He looked at the exterior first and brushed his hand on the hull. "These runes..." he said as he felt the indentations, tracing his fingers on the symbols.

Perry and Atticus walked up to him and the young man hummed "Those are runes that protect the outer hull from various elements and dangers" he answered.

Perry looked at him with narrowed eyes "I see you've applied Aldrecht's principle of buoyancy." She said slowly as she walked towards the front of the ship and he followed her until they arrived at the front. "Dearie, even Kristoff's runic sequence that is typically used for furnaces." She eyed him with the corner of her eyes "A lot of protective runes on this flying boat"

"There are a lot of things that the ship needed to be protected against" he answered with a smug expression on his face.

"This is no ordinary...ship is it?" Nicolas asked slyly with a gleam in his eyes. Atticus laughed merrily and his smug expression only deepened but he said nothing.

He returned his attentions to the front of the ship. It was as sleek as the rest of the ship barring a clear space at the curve of front section.

Nicolas had seen some of the muggle planes, curious as he was, and he'd known, as had Perry, the vague resemblance, even if it wasn't in resemblance but merely in function.

"Let's go inside shall we?" Atticus asked them and they agreed.

They made their way towards the hatch and as they stepped into the vehicle, his eyes widened dramatically.

The walls of the ship were lined with golden lines and runic schemes that were far more intricate than the ones on the hull.

They were linked towards the massive diamond wardstone and he made his way towards it. He saw the runes that enabled the ship whilst he saw runic schemes he hadn't seen before.

Fascinating. The runes were used in a brutally logical method that he hadn't seen before, quite different from the elegant runic schemes he'd seen in his Runes Mastery.

"Did you find this stone or did you make it?" he inquired as he glanced at the young man.

"Created it" he answered with a smile.

"Alchemically?"

A satisfied gleam was in his eyes "Transfigured actually. Permanently." He answered.

He laughed happily and Perry looked at the young man with curious gaze. "Can you do it with everything?" she asked plainly.

He suspected the boy might be able to do it after his Transfiguration Mastery.

The young man mulled it over before he nodded slowly "I can do it with everything...as long as I understand the molecular structure"

"Even precious metals?" Nicolas queried even if he knew the answer.

The young man smiled all but confirming it. Perry chuckled softly before she turned to him "Well Nicky, I did tell you" she said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Bah!" he grumbled. They'd had a bet to see if there was more to Atticus' mastery. She'd suspected that he'd cracked permanent transfiguration but he'd been a bit more doubtful.

Perry walked away from the wardstone towards where her eyes caught something of interest. "These plants..." Perry trailed off as she inspected the transparent trunk, catching his attention. He made his way towards her and he recognised them with ease. They were plants that were quite efficient in producing oxygen and recycling air.

"The plants are to ensure that there is always a supply of air in this ship. It is a self contained ecosystem, effectively. I didn't need to create a biodome, simply to ensure that I have a large supply of replenishable air" He answered.

"Now if you'll follow me, I'll show you why we're here today" Atticus remarked as he went off into the next room. Perry and he followed.

They came into the room just as he sat down. He turned to them "Take your seats. There is a locking mechanism that you need to use before we take off. It's a bit muggle and quite unnecessary with magic but when I made this, I kind of went overboard with safety" he said with a mischievous grin.

They did as he asked whilst he concentrated on the strange buttons he was using. The front melted away in a strange fashion as the opaque metallic front made way for a transparent window.

"Oh" Perry said in surprise as she frowned in concentration "You've charmed the front much like the entrance of the 9 ¾ platform?" she asked curiously.

"Almost" he confirmed with a smile as he turned to her "I did take my inspiration from it but it's not nearly as complex as that mechanism is. It only appears to be the same." He then went on to explain what he did and Nicolas had to admit it was creative.

He didn't see much point in it, simply other than you could do it but then he supposed that was reason enough.

The young man checked them over to ensure they were strapped in before taking his seat again and putting his hands on the wheel that sprouted from the dashboard.

He turned to them with a wild grin "I don't like that grin" Nicolas said warily.

Perry laughed with a tinkling quality to it "My dear, now you know" she said with an expression that said she enjoyed his wariness.

Before he could reply, the ship jerked up and he watched as the ship begun to rise in altitude. He glanced at the young man just in time to see him move the wheel towards an upward angle and the ship jerked forward at an speed that he'd never been at before.

Perry began to giggle as she bounced a little in her seat and sent him a wink that almost made him forget how high they were going.

"Atticus" he asked warily.

He laughed "We're not there yet." He glanced at them "Don't worry...I've done this quite a few times" he said with a mischievous grin.

He said nothing to that as he looked in the side window and was just able to see how far up they were as he could now see the outlines of the Earth.

He turned to Perry who sat just in front of him and he could see that she was becoming a little worried.

"Where exactly are you taking us?" Nicolas asked intently as he tore his eyes away from the side window.

"Somewhere only two other people have been" he said with a knowing smile before he returned his attentions to the wheel.

They all remained silent as the cloudy sky disappeared as they rose above the clouds. He looked on with fascination as he saw a sea of clouds below the ship as the night sky began to clear up.

"He's taking us..." Perry breathed out in awe as her stood transfixed on the sky.

"Into the void" Nicolas said with a little grimness in his tone.

The void had been, at a point in his life, of interest to him that he soon lost interest in as he pursued more...earthly endeavours. But there was always something about the void that had interested him but practicality and lack of worth had made him ignore it.

They'd known that the stars were very likely like the Sun for hundreds of years but with the lack of effects of the stars on magic like what the moon and the sun have made any other exploration into the nature of the stars beyond the use of constellations by some Divination experts pointless.

The blue haze of the sky disappeared completely and the sight of stars and the moon in all of its splendidness came into vision.

"Beautiful" his wife breathed out in awe as she stared at the sights. They'd seen the moon in countless detail as they'd been gifted with a powerful magical instrument that vividly shown them the details of the surface of the moon but to see it like this...with their eyes even if it was still distant.

He heard clicking sounds and he turned to it and saw the young man get up and making his way towards them. He waved his hands and they were both unstrapped.

Atticus helped Perry up with a large smile as he got up. It was a strange smile...one that he'd never seen on the boy and even less in the meetings they'd had since the death of his father.

It was unadulterated, it was unhidden and it was unrestrained...one that spoke of joy. It was a smile that he recognised in those who held complete passion in their craft.

"You've taken us into the void" Nicolas said with ease as he watched the young man carefully.

He was readjusting his assessment of the boy. To do this at seventeen...

He could do a dozen masteries and it wouldn't be as spectacular as what he's done today. There'd been plenty of people throughout their history that were purported to fly into the void.

Icarus was one such example. The muggles had taken to believe the story to be one of cautionary tale...one that spoke warningly of reaching into the realms of the gods. A metaphorical tale.

But for magicals...well, it was a true story. Icarus had been a mage who wanted to reach into the void and so he developed a flying harness that would take him there. It had been an event that several dozen magicals had witnessed and had included quite a few muggles too.

In the end, Icarus had fallen several kilometres away from where he'd taken off from and the remnants of his body had shown that the upper echelons of the sky were deadly.

And so, like so many avenues, it hadn't been investigated any further with conclusive evidence.

Until now.

"I have" he confirmed softly as he watched them with sparkling eyes. He turned away from them towards one of the walls and tapped it.

A door opened and he walked through it. He glanced at Perry who only smiled in return and followed Atticus.

They came into an expanded room, the same grey metal walls until the young man waved his hand and the grey washed away and he breathed in deeply as a section of the room became transparent.

His knees weakened as he stood transfixed...mesmerised at the sight.

It was one of the most beautiful things he'd seen before and he'd seen much in his long life.

He didn't know how long he'd been watching but he felt his hand held by a soft hand and he turned and saw Perry looking at the sights of the Earth with glistening eyes.

He glanced at the boy who stood there watching them with keen eyes.

"When I first saw the Earth, time became meaningless as I took in every detail, every little speck, awed by the beauty of the place we call home" he said with a soft wistful tone...with eyes that were distant and filled with a strange melancholy.

Perry turned to him with emotional eyes "There is not much we have not seen in our lifetime...we have lived through much...seen much but this is perhaps one of the greatest gifts" she said with earnestness in her voice.

Atticus simply smiled to her and inclined his head before he waved his hand and two chairs came into existence and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Wandless conjuration...of this complexity and ease..." he murmured as he watched the boy.

Perry hummed softly as he led her to her chair before he sat in his own chair.

"Full of surprises" Perry said softly as she intently watched the young man who took a seat opposite them with the Earth in the background.

"What you've achieved today..."

"Is nothing in comparison to what I plan in the future" Atticus said with a fervent tone as he captured their eyes.

He'd watched the boy carefully. He'd been watching the boy carefully ever since he'd seen him again after his father's death. His magic had always been incredible to see.

Both he and Perry were attuned to magic more than most people...one that they obtained with age...as they ventured into the depths of magic.

They'd never used mage sight directly on him for he was blinding, almost as much as old Albus. It was what truly triggered their desire to talk with him in Alexandria that fateful day.

He exuded magic, it was remarkable to see and now...both he and Perry had been worried about him...not just because of the psychological issues that the death of the boy's father would warrant but because there was a tinge of darkness to his magic...one that gradually was decreasing but it was still there.

The wandless conjuration only sparked his interest. Wandless conjuration...anything other than the elements was remarkably difficult. Charms were much easier to do and it spoke of his capabilities in magic.

They'd known he'd eventually become an Archmage but he was certain, now, that he was most likely one already, before he'd even reached his final maturity.

It was a frightening prospect. One that worried both of them...even if they had impressions of the boy that he was unlikely to become a menace like Grindelwald.

But it only takes one tragedy...one more tragedy for such things to change. Albus had been lead away from his path of domination with the death of his sister, through actions of his own.

Something fundamental was often a trigger. He hoped that this boy...that this boy would not have another trigger.

The young man got up from his chair and turned his back on them as he stared towards the Earth, an action he easily followed.

Atticus raised his hands and the window that showed the Earth expanded to encompass the entire room almost, except for the ground and the back wall.

Nicolas glanced at the Earth and saw that they were above somewhere in Morocco, though it seemed the craft was going to go west, towards Central America.

"When I was a child, whenever there'd been a clear night sky, I'd lie down on the grass, my eyes fixed on the sky, watching the dim lights of the stars pass over me" Atticus whispered softly with a reverent tone and Nicolas turned to watch him. He was standing slightly angled, enough so that he could see some of his face.

"My sister used to join me from time to time" Nicolas heard the smile in his voice "I'd wonder about them, these stars, stars that are almost inconceivably distant, trillions upon trillions of miles away.

Stories, legends, have been written about them, countless tribes, countless civilisations, known and unknown have wondered about them too. Some thought them to be the souls of the departed. Others believed them to be Gods watching over us, the Moon and the Sun being the father and the mother of the Pantheons."

Nicolas sensed a strange melancholic tone to his voice, a sadness that felt...personal.

"So many origin stories about the world, about the universe" he turned to them with an reverent gleam in his eyes that was gone as soon as it arrived "This world..." he trailed off with a strange tone before he turned slightly to look at the Earth before returning to them again "I do not believe many people will truly understand the beauty of this world amidst a sea of nothingness, isolated and alone...until they see it...until they see it with their own eyes the magnificence of the home our species was born to...the home that cradled us...that nurtured and allowed us to grow into what we are now" he said with a distant smile that almost seemed sad.

"Oh I don't know" Perry chimed softly "There are many beautiful things on Earth..." she smiled kindly at the boy "But I do agree that it gives a certain different prospective..." she looked at the Earth with mesmerised eyes "It highlights the fragility and the irrelevance of the conflicts that are on it" she sighed.

He smiled deeply and inclined his head as he looked at her with deep respect in his eyes "Just so." His smile turned saddened as his eyes grew distant "And yet, there will be many who only see something to conquer...something to dominate, to take" he said with a grim tone.

They grew silent as they all contemplated on his words until he broke it. "Why have you done this?" Nicolas finally asked with immense interest.

"I understand doing things just for the sake of doing things but I doubt that was the purpose of this ship or even why Perry and I are here" he commented intently as he searched the boy's face.

He sighed before he took his seat, his hands entwined his lap, and met Nicolas' gaze with intensity.

"There isn't a single reason" Atticus said as he looked at Nicolas with a piercing gaze.

He gestured at the Earth "My curiosity has always been insatiable and I'm somewhat of a dreamer" he said with gleaming eyes before his face fell into a serious expression "But I'm also a realist." He glanced at the Earth. "Our world is a broken one" he said with a tone of finality "We are abnormally against change as a society, at the very least most of the magical societies in Europe." He turned to them with hardened eyes.

"And those who do want change, and can bring about change, are often those who want to do it at the cost of others, to enrich themselves and a select few." He said with a harsh tone.

He glanced at Perry and saw that she agreed, at least to some degree, of what he was saying.

Perry was the more...sceptical of the two of them. Their long lives, their magic, made them fundamentally different to muggles in the way they saw the world, the way they interacted with others.

Change was hardly ever welcome. There have been countless of Dark Lords that weren't true Dark Lords but those who sought to bring about change forcibly when legal ways had been closed to them.

And often those people were off muggleborn or half blood origin, those who were harshly excluded from the higher tiers of magical society.

Both he and Perry had taught at Beauxbatons almost a dozen times in their 600 years of life, to encourage and nurture a certain of thinking that was continuously ebbing away as society hankered down on their ways, growing ever more resistant to different ways of thinking. It was their influence that ensured that France was the most progressive nation in Europe and even then, it paled in comparison to the Americas, in particular MACUSA.

Atticus continued when neither said anything but remained listening with rapt attention "This ship..." he trailed off for a moment as he seemed to think on how to explain "This ship was always going to be built. My fascination with the way the universe worked, the advancements the muggles have made would have always resulted in going into the void." His eyes shone with pride before they dimmed and became somewhat sheltered.

"Though whether I would have brought anyone with me, at least at this stage, was quite unlikely." He leaned back in his chair, lips pursed "For a long time, I believed the magical world to be almost without any redemption and had been making plans to seclude myself away, somewhere in the world away from both civilisations, at a home that I'd build myself, seeded with magical life, free to learn and experiment without the turmoil and conflicts that occur in both worlds."

Nicolas' eyes widened and Perry beat him to it "What makes you say that?" she asked in a surprised tone and Nicolas saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes of Atticus' desire.

Atticus sighed and Nicolas could see a kind of tiredness in his eyes as Atticus glanced at them with weary eyes. "The prejudices, the bigotry, the inherent societal imbalance, the forced illegalisation of entire branches of magic, the perception that muggles are less than animals when they are perhaps the largest threat, other than ourselves, to wizardkind" he listed off almost in an emotionless tone "All of it, all of it is a unstable mixture in a small cauldron waiting to explode at the slightest change in environmental conditions.

To change all of that, to halt the stagnation that has seeped into the magical world would require a monumental task that I had not believed I could achieve. My suggestions, my ideas and those who would be able to bring about change in our world for the better, all of it would be unwanted and I would have find myself fighting my entire for something that I'd be lucky to get away with, with only political opponents." He said with thinned lips.

"When I began my forays into science after my curiosity was sparked into a burning inferno, I learnt how far behind we were, how...incurious a people we could be. We live for centuries and yet there is little change from someone who was born in 1550 to someone born in 1920. Knowledge rather than increased, has decreased and hidden. Compared to the muggles, they've had several ages that caused monumental change to their existence that someone from 1500s would not be able to recognise in 1942." He said with a disappointed tone, an unhappy look on his face, a hint of shame in his eyes Nicolas recognised.

Nicolas eyed him carefully. He found it odd that such a young man could have a sceptical view of the world. But then the desire to change things was a common thing in the young. Nicolas had felt it in himself.

The youth would always be the ones who would seek to change things, their desires, their energy driving them towards it. But age tempered all, and rarely were there individuals who could truly change things.

And those who did...they tended lose their way, hardened and darkened by their actions.

Was this the fate of this boy, he wondered.

He knew that Albus had a deeper link with Grindelwald than he'd ever admitted, a personal tragedy marked him for the rest of his life. Where Albus shied away from power, deeming power as the corrupting factor in people, Grindelwald went and sought it, to use it to affect change in the world, where Albus sought to halt it.

He had to ask the burning question...

"And what made you change your stance?" Nicolas asked with ruder tone than he intended "You said you believed that the magical world was almost without redemption" he said with shrewd eyes.

Atticus smiled thinly and his eyes grew distant before he looked away towards the Earth. "I'd heard about the Aurors who'd arrived in Sudan too late to save a magical child and their family. They'd been brutally killed by the natives for their 'witchcraft'" he derided with fury in his eyes that soon left as he rubbed his face with his hand

He glanced at them with strange glint in his eye. "It made me realise that I did not dislike the magical world, that I did not hate or dislike our people, but rather the systems, the laws, certain aspects of our culture and the society itself." He looked again at the Earth and Nicolas could see a wistful expression on his face.

"Magic is a wonder and those who have magic in their blood are just as wondrous and I hadn't thought of that until I heard what happened to that family in Sudan. I hadn't thought about the thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of magicals who live in regions in the world where they'd be killed should their magic be discovered." He turned to them with passion in his eyes "These people who'd die for the crime of being magical, the people who are marginalised in the magical world for faults not of their own and could achieve much if given the opportunity, all of these people would never reach their potential, to embrace magic in the way it should" His eyes were luminescent as magic rolled off the boy.

He sat transfixed as the boy captured their attentions.

"I love magic for all that it is, I love the diversity of life, the diversity of magic that exists, permeates all around us, within us, and that tragedy made me realise how derelict to Mother Magic I would be if I decided to ignore the plight of our people, if I ignored the rupturing of our society from within and later on, outside"

He couldn't help himself. "Our people are resistant to change." Nicolas idly commented as he watched the boy carefully.

Atticus gave a sardonic little smile and inclined his head "Yes. But I do not seek to force through change" he said a glint in his eye "Not through violence, for violence would only undo what I would seek for our people" a sentence that eased Nicolas' concerns somewhat.

"And what do you seek?" Nicolas leaned forward as he gazed at the young man.

The young man's eyes gleamed "For our kind to be on a path to fulfil our fullest potential" he said with a determination that he hadn't heard from him before.

He strode forward, met Nicolas gaze when he uttered his next words "I want to see the lowest witch or wizard, even a squib, to rise to the highest of positions based on their achievements, based on merit." He whispered passionately that carried through the air "I want to establish a society that investigates everything, that asks why and how and 'what can we do about it?' and try to understand everything and anything" his brilliant violet eyes with emerald flecks that gleamed like stars as they shone, driving the point whilst he passionately spoke of his sincere desire.

"A noble desire" Perry remarked softly, kindly and Atticus turned to her with a gentle smile and respectful dip of the head before he looked at them, his eyes flickering between them, a serious expression on his face.

"And it is a desire that I have spent much time pondering about, to determine where the faults lie within our world. I have thought about the nature of our society, the nature of why we have not developed in a similar way to the muggles and I've come to conclusions, while obvious are startling" He said with a neutral, guarded expression, his arms crossed behind his back as he looked at them intently.

"Oh?" Nicolas asked curiously

"The muggles are interdependent on each other. They need to coexist, cooperate, build together in order to survive, in order to prosper. Such interdependence has allowed for civilisations to begin to form as peoples took root in fertile lands, primitive social systems, over time becoming more expansive, numerous, more complex and fairer, as their numbers increased, as their existence was eased by new technological developments.

For a long time, we fitted in one way or another...as shamans, as priests, as healers, as advisors and so on. Of course, the vast majority of our kind never had such privileges but those that did, were part of the social system of civilisations. But just as they advanced, so did we. Magical education became more and more available to the masses, no longer were families confined to the knowledge they themselves accumulated. And then wands became available to the masses, exponentially making magic easier to use, to manipulate." He paused momentarily as his words settled in the room.

He eyed them with intense eyes "And as a consequence, it removed the dependence of magicals on muggles and in many ways, the dependence of magicals amongst ourselves"

Nicolas narrowed his eyes "And why is that such a bad thing?"

"I never said it was a bad thing" he said with a wry smile before he turned serious "But it does hamper the development of social structures. The establishing of the ICW, of Ministries only came to be because it was a change forced on the magical world, to protect it from the threat of the muggles." He pointed out before he leaned back in his chair, turning toward the Earth, eyes looking distant.

"Power remained and remains in the hands of the Old Families, concentrated and hoarded without limit or purpose other than for themselves. Representation is a farce and a mere bidding process of who can promise what and how much rather than being elected based on merit and agenda that seeks to drive the magical world forward" he shook his head disdainfully.

"And the problem is that unless these Old Families make the lives of those who they 'rule' over difficult, anything they decree largely doesn't affect the families within the borders of the Ministry. After all, magic makes us almost completely self sufficient. We can build our homes on little land, a barely competent wizard will never starve, and we can defend and hide ourselves from most threats with only a few spells. This self reliance makes the majority of our people barely invested in magical society as the core needs remain, for the most part unaffected, unless specifically targeted." He pursed his lips as he stared at the Earth.

"And that makes stagnating the magical world easy. There is no need to drive forward with new ideas, different perspectives...we hide behind our traditions, the behaviours of our ancestors as a reason to fight against change that would benefit magical society. We reject those from muggle heritage and their ideas that could well invoke the change we need to progress."

"Yet the muggle world progresses through conflict, through war." Nicolas said evenly. "Yes, the muggle world is changing and shifting all the time but it is done on the blood of thousands...of millions."

"True, war pushes the muggles forward as they compete with each other. But it is also not their sole way to progress. The systems they've developed allows them to seek out different routes to life to enrich themselves or to establish a name for themselves in ways ours doesn't truly allow.

At the heart of it, competition is something that defines them and they have developed their governance, their society on this notion, to make things fairer for the lower members of their society so that they can uplift their status and social standing through their chosen field.

And from establishing fairer conditions for competition, comes the notion of accountability, of responsibility that the magical world lacks for the most part. What accountability exists for those from noble families who can bankroll Dark Lords with impunity, people that can bribe officials with zero consequence? What responsibility do those in power have other than to themselves for the most part?" he shook his head.

"And how do you suggest to implement accountability and responsibility? How do you define such things?" Perry asked of Atticus.

"By changing the culture, by giving us a direction" He answered simply "Culture is ultimately the most important way to change the structure of society. Our culture stems from family and it rarely extends any further than that. Muggle society has ever changing culture, fitted to the age they're in. And this is what I intend to work on." He said passionately "Of course that is long term." He remarked with a tiny smile.

The boy brought his hands in front him with his palms facing upward.

He glanced at Nicolas "You asked why I had done this."

"This ship was made with purpose" he nodded deeply "One of the main reasons was that I wanted to find out if with muggle knowledge of physics and magic could create a vehicle that could sail in the void" he grinned as he gestured the ship with his head "Suffice it to say it worked" he said with a small smile "But it is merely the beginning of what I intend to do"

The boy's eyes glowed slightly as something begun to coalesce in his hand...it was at first formless until it turned into a misshapen rock about thrice as large as the boy's hands.

"This is an asteroid...one of the many between Mars and Jupiter." He looked up as the rock floated above the boy's hands.

"The sizes and consistencies of the asteroids are varied. There are hypothesises that they are the leftovers of the original source material that this solar system consisted off...in any case, that means that many of these rocks have high metallic content" Atticus' eyes gleamed.

The rock transformed, first split in two before the shape began to change. The rocky material was removed and a metallic shell was made and the interior of the rock was transformed. The upper shell was fused with the lower shell almost like a Faberge egg that rotated freely until the upper shell cover the lower shell.

The shell floated towards them and he looked at it with keen eyes. He saw a city with large spiral towers seated at the base of a large mountain with the city surrounded by a large lake with the city connected to lands beyond the lake with fantastical bridges. He saw forests, smaller settlements, plans, hills, tropical jungles all in sectioned parts.

Perry breathed out loudly as she watched the creation, absolute fascination in her eyes.

Nicolas paid rapt attention at the display of magic. He watched keenly at the magic that the boy used...so...effortlessly, to create such a transfiguration. To differentiate the transfiguration with such ease...

He watched the boy with keen eyes. How capable was he, he wondered.

"Once this is built, I intend to build a society that is built on a foundation of meritocracy, whereby blood doesn't matter...where it doesn't matter if you have creature blood, where it doesn't matter if you're a squib or a wizard as long as you're capable and have magic in your blood. I want to build a shining beacon, a shining example of a magical society that none can rival." He whispered enticingly to them, confidence and belief easy to see in his face.

Nicolas studied the creation carefully. The way it is encased in a shell, with the possibility that it could be enveloped completely...

"This is no island..." he said slowly as he captured Atticus' eyes "Is this like this vessel we're in?" he asked with a little wonder creeping in his voice.

The scale, the audacity...

"It is" he said with barely contained excitement in his voice that seemed infectious. Nicolas almost thought it was laced with magic but it was simply his enthusiasm, his excitement at the possibilities his creation would provide him...them.

"I do not want to create an island bound to the Earth. Of course the world ship will be built here on Earth but it won't be bound to it."

He took off his eyes from the creation and looked at Atticus sharply and met his eyes.

Atticus continued "Why must we remain bound to the Earth?" he whispered softly with gleaming eyes. "Magic permeates through the universe. We do not get our magic from the Earth. Yes, magic is stronger here but" he turned away from Nicolas' gaze and turned back to the beautiful world below them "ultimately, we have far more options than we ever dared dream" he said with a strange tone to his voice.

Nicolas filed away his comment regarding magic for later purposes as his mind fixed on something.

"Do you know what you're saying?" Nicolas whispers softly as Atticus' attentions were returned to him. "Are you aware of the challenge you're setting yourself? Even if we entertain the idea that it is possible?"

Atticus looked grim but nodded "I do. To all counts. I have already developed methods to shrink and reduce the mass of the asteroid to a tiny fraction so bringing down the Asteroid is not a concern. If you're asking about where we would work on it, Antarctica is a wonderful isolated place." He said with an enticing smile.

"We?" Perry asked with a raised eyebrow but he could see the interest in her eyes. How could she not be interested? The chance to work on this...

But he had another question "You said world ship" he asked intently.

He turned to Perry first and gave her a small smile with eyes that knew of her interest "An opportunity exists" he merely noted to her that meant far more than what was said.

He turned to Nicolas with a tilted head "It's the closest thing that I can describe it as. I originally wanted an island, like you'd mentioned but I hadn't thought of the way you did. But then I came across idea of using an asteroid to shape as I desired. At that point, given my skill in Transfiguration, I would be able to change the material magically conducive material and at that point, making it capable of flight and able to be a closed system capable of sailing through the air, even the void, should it become necessary, is a natural progression" he said with a slight smile as his eyes held a spark of excitement.

Nicolas couldn't help himself and laughed. He laughed and laughed.

"My boy..." he finally said after calming down a little "Oh, a natural progression...?" He shook his head in disbelief before he turned to Perry who looked more excited than in disbelief.

"You say that I'm impulsive and do ridiculous things" he said with humour.

She turned to him "This isn't ridiculous Nicolas!" she said with a disapproving tone before she smiled and turned to Atticus "It's an uncommon solution to the problem you've described to us. How large will it be?"

"The asteroid will be just under 40km but is something 82% nickel and iron. I'd originally wanted to use a 200km asteroid with roughly the same metallic content but I was advised against it" he said with a bashful expression.

Before he could ask who'd advised him Perry interjected "Nickel and Iron are good materials to use to alchemically change to magically conducive metals. However it is also incredibly power intensive to change something that size" she said worriedly.

He nodded "I know. That is why I've developed a way to use diamond wardstones effectively as batteries full of the ambient magic that they've gathered to trigger the reduction of mass and size. At that point, I've calculated that we can resize the asteroid to a tenth of its size once it is on Earth and use the same kind of batteries to trigger a permanent transfiguration into a magically conducive metal." He answered them before he fixed his eyes on them.

"This island...Illos is my solution, my way of providing a path towards change that would bring us to greater heights, unencumbered by those who resist change with everything they are, for it would chip away at their power at the cost of the health of the magical world" he spoke to them with such passion in his voice, his eyes blazed with the fires of youth, in such a way that Nicolas could only admire such conviction and desire.

"Violence will not be needed, war would not happen this way and we would be free to create a society that would be greater than Atlantis itself." He smiled to them with radiant purple eyes as the creation floated towards and Nicolas inspected the creation carefully.

The details of...Illos was impeccable and he saw that it was carefully planned, carefully taking into account the regions of the world where there was abundant magical life.

"What your plans for the magical creatures?" Perry inquired, forcing him to look at her.

He knew she was more than just a little interested. They'd been...growing...tired of living, somewhat.

They kept track of their descendants, before the Stone took away their ability to have another child, but they rarely interacted with them anymore, the last time being over half a century ago.

The successions of wars that they'd witnessed, the staleness of less than interesting things happening in their lives, was making it all a little tedious.

Boredom wasn't quite right...but rather a...state of simple...existing. They had no clear purpose anymore.

The problems that existed today were problems that did not affect them nor involve them. If he did not love Alchemy as much as he did, to try and figure out new things, he'd be pulling his hairs out at the...monotoniety of it all.

And this...

He turned his eyes back at the boy.

The boy kept on exceeding their expectations. By far.

For all of his concerns, he was something rather unique. People had certain...flavours to their magic and the boy radiated curiosity.

He did not doubt that he loved magic, he did not doubt that the boy was a dreamer. It was in his magic, after all.

The boy's eyes gleamed with excitement "I intend to provide them a safehaven. From the smallest Flobber worm to the Horntail, I want them all, here, safe and freer than they'd ever be in the world at large. I have some advantage to that, given that my family owns many creature reserves and it would be a simple matter of moving them.

Not just them either, there are plenty of mundane creatures that could do with better protection from the muggles who are encroaching on their habitats. It is intended as much as it is a safehaven for our kind but also of magical creatures at large" he answered them with honesty in his words and eyes.

He glanced at Perry and saw approval in her eyes. It seemed that he was slowly convincing his dear old wife.

He turned to Atticus. He nodded more to himself than anything else. "I have my concerns." He said with seriousness in his tone.

"As expected. I'll do my best to alleviate them" Atticus said with a matching serious tone.

The next few hours went to discuss the issues Nicolas had and Atticus, much to his credit addressed them as well as he could until he asked the pertinent question.

He couldn't help but ask "One thing that is clear to see, is the complete isolation from the muggle world that such a place would have..." he trailed off as he looked at Atticus who understood.

He nodded and looked away, his eyes growing distant. "This century is a turning point for the muggles. Much like after the advent of wands where our diversity of magic increased, the muggle science and weapons will explode in complexity, in deadliness and in numbers. In just over fifteen years, they'll eventually land men on the moon with sheer graft and technology. They will develop thousands of weapons that would only need a fraction to destroy this beautiful blue orb." He intoned to them with immense graveness as he turned slightly towards them, his eyes grim.

"You've mentioned this before" Nicolas simply stated.

He nodded before he turned back to face the Earth "I have...and I know that our kind will not take the muggles serious".

"The ICW is only a loose organisation...one that ensures the Statue is kept intact but they will not be able to keep it alive. In a centuries time, the muggles will be as different from the muggles today are as different from two thousand years ago. They've reached a point where everything improves with an astounding rate. One that we will be unable to cope with without serious change" he said lowly with fervent passion.

Perry looked at him with calculating eyes but Nicolas could see some concern in them before she turned her eyes to Atticus "You truly believe that?"

"I know it" he said firmly "the visions...they are vague but with the amount I've studied their theories and concepts of the future, it's quite incredible that many of their ideas will come into existence" he shook his head before he turned his vivid purple green eyes on him "And therein lies the problem." He thinned his lips as he stared at Nicolas.

"Every century, at least once, there is a Dark Lord that rises of great power. Every century there is at least a number of Dark Lords in our communities that instigates the population either against muggle or in a way where muggles are collateral damage" Atticus said with severity laced in his voice.

"You think Exposure will happen because of one these Dark Lords" Nicolas answered softly as he watched the boy.

He nodded gravely "I do...and if it doesn't then it will happen by some sort of accident. The muggles have already developed film...moving pictures which they will later develop into monitoring methods which they will later develop into a instantaneous network where they can monitor one end of the world from the other side of the world. And we will be hard pressed to remove any incidents from the world when the act of magic is captured by one of these devices which end up transmitted to the other end of the world."

He turned his eyes towards the Earth as silence fell amongst them.

"The Statute is not maintainable" Nicolas whispered softly capturing their attention. He turned towards Atticus. "That is what you've been hinting...rather poorly, this entire time." He gestured towards the Earth. "If the muggles become advanced enough in their technology to get up here, then they are on their way to develop ways to discover the secret through magic...not through observation of us but through energy" he said with keen eyes.

Atticus smiled grimly and nodded "I made allusions to it a few times...I'm glad you caught it" he frowned as he mulled over his thoughts before he continued "I've determined that magic...that magic is a universal energy and I have also confirmed that with experiments up here"

Nicolas sat up straight in his chair and looked intently at Atticus "Explain" he demanded.

And so for the next half hour, he and Perry sat riveted as Atticus explained the experiments that he conducted in space regarding magic and whether magic existed in space.

His results had shown that magic existed in the void and that he'd travelled to the moon and measured the presence of magic on the moon through a device and discovered that magic was less on the moon but it was still there, slightly more than the ambient levels of the void.

He spoke to them about his experiments with regards to magic, comparing the frequencies of magic to the electromagnetic field...that magic was a field of its own that permeates through the universe, enhanced and more potent as life is propagated.

He laughed loudly as he clapped his hands "My boy...what you have discovered will forever change the nature of our understanding of magic" he said with immense respect in his tone.

It was an understatement...the discoveries would propel the boy to the scale of Merlin himself.

And that thought...it marvelled him truly.

And seemingly it was one that Perry shared. She turned to Nicolas with mischievous eyes and a sly look "I think it won't be too long before we begin to say Sayre the same way we say Merlin" she said with sparkling eyes making him laugh before she turned to Atticus with deeply speculative eyes.

The boy looked a little flushed before he shook it away. "I..." he cleared his throat "Thank you for such comparisons." he said with a bowed head.

"It might be centuries before they truly discover what this energy is...but they'll observe that their current theories of the universe are...incomplete. They'll determine that something is there...but they won't know what."

Nicolas eyes' widened in understanding "So you think that they'll observe that the strange energy they'll eventually observe on the world" he gestured towards the earth "through their monitoring devices, the...films you said?" he inquired.

He inclined his head in affirmative "They'll eventually develop their films not only to capture images...but also to capture heat, to capture different types of light and then later different types of energy. I'm not certain of the time scale but when something doesn't make sense..." he trailed off.

"It sets of curiosity" he frowned as he thought it over.

"Will those images show our hidden communities?" Perry asked in concern. He turned sharply to her with surprise before he turned to Atticus with quizzical eyes.

From the look of his face, the possibility was certain. "Yes." He answered simply.

"Our wards are muggle repellent, they affect the minds of the muggles...images...images are not the same. Through proxy, they will be able to see our communities" he said with grimness in his tone.

"And so, they'll eventually discover many of our enclaves" Perry whispered deeply troubled.

He only nodded grimly "I will ensure that the DOM will know of this...that the muggles will eventually develop ways to circumvent our safeguards but it is only a matter of time until we can no longer adequately develop ways to counter their development." He sighed deeply as he grabbed the bridge of his nose "There will be many that will seek for us to establish greater control over the muggle world"

"From the sounds of it, it may well be necessary" Nicolas commented with focused eyes.

Atticus smiled grimly before he turned away from Nicolas. "It would be necessary if we were to survive." Atticus sat back in his chair as he gazed at the Earth.

"For all of the differences between us and the muggles, our mentality is quite the same. We hate not being in control, we also fear what we do not understand. For us...because of magic, we understand the universe on a scale that the muggles do not. We know that there is an afterlife, we know that there is depth to the universe that the muggles have not even have the faintest suspicion yet and we know things that they would never discover without our aid." He turned to the pair of them with certainty in his eyes.

"And because of this, we are far more accepting of things that seem impossible..." he waved dismissively "but that's not my point. My point is that when we fear something, we often perceive it as a threat. It is what happened in our relations with the muggles for millennia." His eyes flickered to both Perry and Nicolas.

"And so, if the muggles discover that we have been controlling them with magic...that we have been changing their minds...removing their memories...that we have used magic to kill them...to take from them..." he trailed off with a whisper.

Deathly silence filled the room "But removing their memories is necessary for both our peoples. It doesn't hurt them." Perry pointed out.

Atticus smiled grimly "Have you considered it from their perspective? That we're capable of literally changing their minds and removing their memories. Do you not see how frightening that prospect is?" he said with keen eyes as he and Perry fixed their eyes on each other before he continued.

"Imagine that is what you know of magicals...that they are so capable of affecting your reality...that your mind is not your own...that your actions could very well not be your own." He said with ferventness in his tone as his eyes gleamed with severity. "Your fears would run wild. 'What else are magicals capable of?' 'They can change reality? They can change one thing into another? What is to stop them from changing the air into toxic gas?' 'Am I the person I've always been?' 'They can kill with a single word?' 'They have magic, the bible said they are Devil spawn, they must be exterminated'" Each sentence was a death knell.

Nicolas had always known the fragility of the relationship of muggles and magicals. Even in his day, those with magic were seen with deep mistrust, steeped in fear. Magical nobles were whispered amongst the common folk, the nobility and the clergy alike...and those of noble status were the only ones that could get by without being harassed as magical merchants had been.

What he was supposing had the ring of truth.

"There will be some that will seek to use us for their own ends...those in positions of power. There will be those well versed in science who would like to discover the secret of magic for their own ends...disappearances would become frequent...and it would be too late for us to notice as they'd target those from mundane backgrounds...there will be those who would work with the muggles because they were scorned by the magical world...all of this would contribute to an inevitable state of war that would decimate this wonderful, life rich world" he said with grave severity.

"Your fear mongering aside" Nicolas said with piercing eyes "There is merit in your words" he acknowledged "but our people are adaptable. You underestimate us" he said with narrowed eyes.

Perry said nothing as she turned her attentions to Atticus.

He dipped his head before he met Nicolas' gaze "Perhaps I am" he admitted "Perhaps I am wrong and I have too little faith in our people to remain hidden for as long as we desire. Perhaps I am wrong in our adaptability to hide from the gaze of the muggles as they increase in numbers, as they increase their technology." He leaned forward with intense eyes and a stony expression "But it would only take one occasion whereby the obliviators are unable to erase the presence of magic and magicals...it would only take one instance of werewolves or vampires being caught on film and for it to spread around the world. It would only take one Dark Lord to attack a muggle village or town and the murders to be caught by the muggles. It would take one religious fanatic to be voted into office. It would take one dissatisfied muggleborn scorned by the magical world to seek revenge against those who treated him or her as lesser despite having magic." He leaned back in his chair whilst keeping his eyes on Nicolas.

"It would only take one disastrous moment to unravel the Statute." He whispered softly as he took on a sad expression on his face "For now, such disastrous moments are very unlikely to happen because the muggles are still quite primitive in their technology but as they compete, as their weapons increase in complexity to compete with their rivals, so will their monitoring methods. After all, war is not only killing."

His expression changed to neutral "Politics is war with quills and ultimately you need to know what your opponents are doing. Spying will increase in complexity years before it gets filtered through to the population and given that several major nations are in on the secret of magic, to think that they would leave a dangerous people like us alone is folly" he finished.

They remained in contemplative silence. He'd seen the merits of having a place for magicals, away from muggle civilisation. It had never been needed, at least in Europe. There were enclaves in places like Africa, South America and the Middle East that were had zero contact with muggles, something that is quite difficult in Europe given how entwined it all was, centuries ago.

"You want us to ally with you" Nicolas broke the silence as he watched the boy carefully.

"I do" he answered easily as he met Nicolas' gaze. "You two are some of the most brilliant people in our world. You have knowledge, you have lived through several different ages, giving you a perspective that will be invaluable." He eyed them both with calculating eyes.

"You have yet to mention how you would rule Illos, before we make our decision to join with you or not" Perry interjected as she watched him carefully.

Atticus pursed his lips, clearly thinking over what to say before he nodded, his eyes shining with certainty "For the moment, there will be three council tiers; A High Council, a Magical Council and a Representative Council.

The Representative Council would be the legislative body of government that would represent the electorate, creation of laws and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries.

The Magical Council would be filled with those representing each sentient magical race and this body would serve to ensure the rights of each race whilst also ensuring relations between the races are at the very least amicable. I intend to invite sentient magical races who would seek equality under the law and protection under the law whilst also honouring their culture and practices, provided they don't infringe on the rights of others." He paused momentarily as he watched their reactions carefully before continuing.

"The High Council will be responsible for the direction of the nation, an overarching direction that would ensure personal interests and political power is limited to governing rather than enriching. This Council would hold the other two Councils responsible and accountable if they deviate from their positions" he declared to them, his eyes watching their reactions carefully.

Nicolas frowned. It was unlike a system he'd heard so far, especially the so called Magical Council. The history of equality between races is one that is fraught with problems. Very rarely had there been an era whereby wizards and magical races that were equal to another and it would be something that many Old families would fight against.

One thing he was curious about however...

"And I presume you would be on this...High Council?" Nicolas asked curiously.

"I would" he answered with cool eyes.

"As King?" Perry asked softly with piercing eyes.

He inclined his head with almost resigned eyes "If I have too...as King." He turned towards the Earth. "Anything less than being a ruler, as captain of the ship, will not work, unless I want it to eventually become like every other Ministry." He paused for several moments that crept in the space between them.

He turned his eyes back at them, a swirling mass of power were in his eyes "I despise corruption. It is a disease that eats at the foundations of society, at the very seams that holds everything together and corruption is born from those who seek to enrich themselves, to propel themselves in power. There are only very few people who are not susceptible to it and I will not allow the home that I intend to build to be riddled with it." He said almost snarling because his face returned to a more gentle expression.

"At the beginning, it will be necessary to ensure that the foundations are firmly rooted with the ideals that I seek to uphold Illos. Absolute power is not what I desire" he shook his head and Nicolas noticed that he meant it. He continued "It would run counter to what I seek...a nation of meritocracy, of exceptionalism and it would not work if I bound the country to a system whereby there is someone who can override the nation at his whims. Absolute power will corrupt absolutely if left rampant and I have no desire to become corrupt, much less the nation" he declared fervently.

Nicolas believed him. He glanced at Perry who was deep in thought before she looked up at him.

"I believe you. And I agree with you. For some time, a leader to direct the course of the nation until it is stable and firmly rooted will be necessary." She paused for a second as she glanced at Nicolas with a certain look before she returned her eyes to Atticus "Will it become hereditary?" she inquired.

"I don't know" he said honestly "But what I do know is that at some point, I intend to ensure that the post becomes constitutional with limited powers of veto. For example, any significant changes to rights, to education and war will have to be something that I retain control over. Other than that, I have no desire for the position to be anything other than a figure head...a head of state that ensures that the citizens of my home have every opportunity available to them." He answered them.

They all remained silent for a few minutes as they thought it over. Nicolas eyed the boy.

"It's quite something for a teenager to come up with" he commented lightly.

Atticus turned to him with a wry smile "I have a sense of responsibility, of duty" he said with a tiredness in his voice as his eyes grew distant.

"A sense of duty taken on by young shoulders" Perry said softly.

"Aren't those the best shoulders to take on such a heavy burden?" he said with a light tone in his voice that belied the seriousness of their conversation.

He grew serious "Are you willing to aid me in this?" he asked them. A question that asked much of them.

"How far?" Perry asked.

"That..." he trailed off as his piercing eyes met Perry's "That depends on you." He tilted his head "I have many plans that I want to enact, separate from Illos. Many of them are centred on education." He paused for a second before he continued.

"Right now, I have been setting up a higher level institute in Ireland – one that is master level. I'm creating a research institute whereby students can be taught by the dozens if not hundreds advanced magical and science to progress our society" he paused momentarily as his eyes flickered to them

"I see no one better than the pair of you to head this institute. Your names, your experience, your knowledge as well your open minds will be a massive boon to this institute. I have literally dozens of projects that I don't particularly have the time to work on my own"

"Such as validating or even coming up with your own theories that will change the way we see magic." He looked towards the Earth "One of the theories I think you might like to discover is whether there are universal leylines" he turned back to them with a mischievous glint in his eye "Imagine if that was the case...that there are entire worlds converging on leylines, with magic more potent than Earth. Maybe once it is time and we find a way to sail the void, we can settle these worlds" he said with a passionate gleam in his eye before he shook away those thoughts.

Atticus then explained to them his plans for an institution that would churn out highly educated magicals for the next half hour.

It was a good plan, one that he saw would have several opportunities, namely a place whereby Atticus could recruit many young people for Illos, something that didn't evade either of them.

For all of his doubts and concerns, should the boy stick to his plans, it would be a way to power without much bloodshed, at least without him starting it.

He was no fool. The intent of poaching talented magicals from the magical population worldwide was there. And yet, he could not fault such actions. It would provide a haven to those who would otherwise have little routes in life due to their circumstances, not to mention those who are unfortunate enough to be born in a troubled region.

He turned to Perry and met her gaze. He saw then that Perry quite certainly would want to be involved more than that. And he couldn't fault her for it.

"How many people know of your plans with this place?" Perry broke the silence.

He mulled it over "One other" he answered with a little wince.

"Trust issues?" Perry asked knowingly

He shrugged "Well, you can't blame in this case" he said wryly. Perry laughed and nodded deeply.

"Quite understandable, this time." She paused for a second "Emily?" she asked softly and he smiled and nodded. Perry smiled back "I'm glad you trust her with this and I'm glad you trust us with this" She paused momentarily as she eyed him carefully "Your family doesn't know?" she asked with a hint of sadness to her tone.

He shook his head a little guilty "No. I will...eventually but right now, they don't need to know" he answered her.

"Your mother should know" Perry told him softly and before he speak she continued "But ultimately it is your choice" she said with a graceful dip of her head.

She turned to Nicolas and a few moments passed between them before he nodded, causing her to smile and to turn to him. "We're interested and we will see how this goes. We are placing our faith in you." She said with inspecting eyes.

He smiled genuinely at her and nodded "And I will not abuse it" he said with deep respect in his voice.

Nicolas hummed "We won't betray your trust with this. You have our word." He said intently and Perry nodded in agreement.

"What is the timescale?" Perry inquired.

"For the moment, the island is perhaps half a decade away. In theory, I think I could start within a year...I have several things that I'd like to finish that I have half completed but I won't because of the war" he said with a firm tone.

Perry nodded in understanding. They had known of his desire to join the war.

"We have little to do at the moment. How far along are you with this institute?"

Atticus answered and provided the timescale they were on.

He smiled heartily "My boy" he shook his head "I think we'll have a great partnership" he said happily.

He turned to Perry who looked at him just as excited "Things were getting boring anyway" she said to him with a sniff and he chuckled before he turned to Atticus who was smiling at them.

A few hours later, they were back at their cottage in the Portuguese countryside, seated by the terrace looking at the retreating sun.

He sat deep in thought in his reclining chair, glass of firewhiskey swirling in his hand.

"I don't think he'll understand until later, don't you think?" his wife asked with a gentle tone, breaking him out of his thoughts and turned towards her with questioning eyes once they met hers.

She continued "The symbol he is becoming, the symbol he is turning himself into." She pursed her lips as she looked at the sun that was beginning to disappear into the horizon.

"I know you favoured Albus to be the symbol but he is far from this world of ours needs, Nicky. He would detest the kinds of change that boy would bring into this world, the change that we both know we need" she turned to him with a soft smile when he placed his hand on top of hers.

She turned her hand around and squeezed his. She looked at him with a fond smile that broke out on her face.

"Do you not think he might turn out like all the others?" he asked her with a worried tone in his voice "Even if Albus is a little zealous with his views on power and magic, there is truth to it. Magical power often leads to a certain kinds of arrogance, not like what the boy is experiencing" he pointed out.

She shook her head "You know very well that it was not arrogance" she said with a frown "It's confidence and determination and given what he'd shown us, and I could sense that he knew far more and has done far more than he let us see." She looked at him with curious eyes. "Do you truly believe that he could be like the others? Do you truly not see the symbol he could be for our people? The one who could unite us like none other has done before? Without the need of violence?" she said softly as their eyes met.

He sighed and closed his eyes. "It's the hope." He opened his eyes and wryly smiled at his wife "The potential in the boy is there, the desire for change is immense and his drive to do what is necessary is strong." He turned serious "And it's in that knowledge that I dare not hope beyond cautious optimism. He has the potential to become a symbol for our people, true, but he also has the potential to truly destabilise everything beyond repair."

He turned his eyes towards the horizon "For all of Albus' faults, and I know that man has a great many, he would not destabilise the magical world."

"And yet he would not progress us further, simply stagnate and force us to become closer to the muggles, something that would split our society even further" Perry commented with a disapproving tone.

"Yes" he sighed.

They remained silent for a few moments.

"It's a wonderful creation though" she added lightly and he laughed.

"I know...In all honesty, I do believe he will be able to do it. Even if the scale is incredible, the magic behind it is not unknown, simply innovative and approached in a different way." His eyes gleamed "The prospect of working on such a creation..." he sighed happily.

Her laugh was tickling and soft. "Yes, the idea of working on something that would approach the legend of Atlantis..." she trailed off.

Once again they remained in comfortable silence as they watched the sun disappear in the horizon.

"A Wizard King." He murmured.

"Hmm. It would be rather fitting. A wizard King that took his people to safety." She mused. She laughed a little, her eyes sparkling "A tale for the ages"

He laughed and looked at her amused "And are we his little knights?" he teased.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow before she got up in a huff after she let go of his hand and looked down at him with twinkling eyes "My dear Nicky, I think we will be much more important than silly little knights" she said with a haughty tone before she walked off, leaving him behind completely bemused.

He necked down the glass and got up and stretched a little, his bones cracking as a result and a groan escaped his lips that eked out into a sigh.

"Kings, floating islands, magic in the void." He murmured to himself before a small smile came across his face.

"An interesting day indeed." He laughed softly to himself before he turned towards the doors, ready to retire for the day.